DALLAS (Ticker) -- After their first home loss of the
millennium, the Indiana Pacers looked like a shell of the
Eastern Conference's top team.

Indiana's franchise-record 25-game home winning streak finally
ended on Sunday and the Pacers looked more like the East's worst
team in an embarrassing 111-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks that
was much worse than the final score indicates.

The Pacers shot 33 percent (31-of-94) from the field, yielded 25
points off turnovers and trailed by 32 points midway through the
third quarter. The awful performance came just two days after
their 105-96 loss to Miami at Conseco Fieldhouse -- the first
setback in their new arena since Thanksgiving.

"We just didn't play. We just didn't play tonight," Indiana
coach Larry Bird said. "When you don't play against a team that
on the defensive end gets up into you and makes a lot of shots
at the other end, you are going to lose the game."

Indiana (43-21) slipped to 15-18 on the road and never seemed
interesting in challenging the Mavericks (26-37), a team with no
postseason hopes that has won consecutive games after a six-game
losing streak.

"This is one of the first blowouts of the year and it couldn't
come at a better time," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "This was
what a coach likes to see. When you have a big lead and you find
a way to keep it. You know they are going to make some runs at
you. You know you going to go through cold spells. Keep the
pressure on them and keep doing the same things that got you the
lead. We did a good job of that tonight."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 15 of his 28 points in the third quarter
and Steve Nash added 21 points, including a 13-footer that gave
Dallas an 80-48 cushion with 5:50 left in the third period.

"They're a terrific team and for us to win was very nice because
we avenged a loss that we didn't think we should have had early
in the season at their place," Nash said, referring to a 94-93
heartbreaker at Conseco Fieldhouse on February 21. "We feel as
though we should have swept the series. We're just trying to
get as many wins as possible before the season's over. We're
pretty much out of the playoffs. Now's a chance to get better
and play for our pride."

"I felt good. I felt good yesterday in practice. I knew in the
second half when I got the ball and I was open that I just had
to get it up," Nowitzki said. "That's what I did."

Travis Best scored a career-high 28 points and helped the Pacers
shave the deficit to 19 points on three occasions in the fourth
quarter after coach Larry Bird emptied his bench.

"We've been digging ourselves a hole, night in, night out," Best
said. "That's just not going to get it done. It's going to
catch up with us sooner or later, so it was a big factor. We
could never really fight our way back. You've got to give them
credit. They played really well."

It was apparent from the outset that the Pacers were not ready.
Nash hit a 3-pointer, Nowitizki buried back-to-back jumpers and
Michael Finley added a driving layup as Dallas opened with a
15-4 flurry.

After Indiana center Rik Smits made an 11-footer, Erick
Strickland was good from 18 feet and Nash answered Reggie
Miller's free throw to make it 20-7 with 4:56 left in the
opening period.

Jalen Rose cut it to 29-18 with one minute left before Finley
made a layup, Strickland converted a three-point play and Finley
beat the buzzer with another layup, giving Dallas a season-high
36 first-quarter points and an 18-point bulge.

The Pacers stayed within 60-46 at the half, but Nowitzki put
them away over the next 12 minutes. The 7-footer from Germany
made a layup, two free throws and two 3-pointers to open the
third quarter and after a layup by Finley, he connected from
24-feet to stretch the margin to 75-46 with 8:30 left, capping a
15-0 burst.

Nowitzki was 10-of-13 from the floor, 4-of-5 beyond the arc and
made all four of his free throws in 29 minutes. Finley scored
16 points, Strickland 11 and Greg Buckner and Cedric Ceballos
added 10 apiece off the bench for Dallas, which improved to
15-16 at home.

The Mavericks shot 48 percent (46-of-95), including a 9-of-15
performance from 3-point range.

Rose scored 18 points, Croshere added 10 and both grabbed 13
rebounds for the Pacers, who held a 52-50 advantage on the
boards. Indiana was without starting foward Dale Davis due to
leg cramps.

"Its hard to say," Croshere responded when asked if the end of
the home winning streak had anything to do with his team's poor
performance. "We've had a little bit of a history of playing
poorly on the road and a recent history of digging ourselves
into a hole. We've been able to win a lot of those games
because we've been playing at home. When you do that on the
road against an up-tempo team, it can come back and bite you. It
certainly did tonight. So I don't know if it's so much of a
carry over of the last game as it is a recent trend of how we've
been playing."

"We always come ready to play," Rose said. "You don't get the
record we have by being a team that doesn't come ready to play.
We come to play. It's just a matter of us finding a way to get
off to a good start. We're not going to panic. We're going to
continue to play hard. We have a game tomorrow in Atlanta and I
feel like we are going to show up and play to win."

"Austin Croshere didn't have a clue as to what he was doing out
there tonight," Bird said. "Austin usually plays pretty decent
defense, but tonight Nowitzki was the better player by far."

"He's a great shooter to begin with," Croshere said. "He got a
lot of open shots breaking out on defense, my fault in
particular, but at the same time he hit a lot of shots with a
hand in his face. You have to give him a lot of credit."